Brewers' Zduriencik to be Mariners GM

Reputation as one of baseball's best evaluators of talent

By JOHN HICKEY, P-I REPORTER

Updated 10:00 pm, Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Photo: / Associated Press

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Jack Zduriencik poses before the start of a game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Milwaukee Brewers on June 3 in Milwaukee. He has been named general manager of the Mariners. (AP Photo/Darren Hauck)

Jack Zduriencik poses before the start of a game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Milwaukee Brewers on June 3 in Milwaukee. He has been named general manager of the Mariners. (AP Photo/Darren Hauck)

Zduriencik replaces interim GM Lee Pelekoudas, who took over for the fired Bill Bavasi on June 16.

All of the candidates for the job -- seven interviewed, five from outside the organization and two from the inside -- were asked to address the future. They were asked about their long-term approach to get the Mariners back to respectability in a three-, four- or five-year plan. And they were asked how they would get the Mariners ready to be competitive in 2009.

But whether Zduriencik (pronounced zur-EN-sik) will get the Mariners ready for 2009 or try to build the club up over time is yet to be known outside the Mariners' front office.

With the World Series starting Wednesday, the club was allowed to announce Zduriencik's hiring, but nothing more of his plans other than what came out in a news release.

"Seattle is an outstanding organization with great fans, a great ballpark and an ownership group committed to the goal of bringing a World Series to the Northwest," Zduriencik said. "I believe that working together, we can make the Mariners a model franchise. I am looking forward to getting to work immediately, and developing a plan to reach our goal."

Because Major League Baseball frowns upon major announcements on World Series game days, Zduriencik won't be introduced until Friday morning. There may be no need to wait until Friday to know the direction the Mariners are planning. Zduriencik is one of the sharpest talent evaluators in the game, so rebuilding seems to be the Mariners' plan. The Brewers went 15 years without a winning record before Zduriencik was put in charge of the draft. The Brewers got over .500 last year and made it to the playoffs as a wild card this year.

Compare that with the win-now push under Bavasi that produced just one winning season in the past five years.

It's not just that Zduriencik's drafts have produced an entire starting infield -- first baseman Prince Fielder, second baseman Rickie Weeks, third baseman Ryan Braun and shortstop J.J. Hardy -- and then some, it's that he also gave the team options.

When the Cleveland Indians put left-handed ace CC Sabathia on the auction block midseason, it wasn't the Red Sox, Yankees or Cubs who came up big. It was the Brewers, who were able to offer slugging first baseman/outfielder Matt LaPorta as part of a trade package of minor leaguers. The deal propelled the Brewers into the playoffs.

It was the kind of trade the Mariners seldom make, because they seldom are deep in minor league talent.

When the Mariners acquired lefty starter Erik Bedard from the Baltimore Orioles in February, the deal stripped the minor league system of pitching and included the team's top hitting prospect, Adam Jones. And still the Mariners lost 101 games, becoming the first team with a $100 million payroll to lose 100 or more games.

"Jack is extremely well respected throughout baseball," Lincoln said. "His track record in recognizing and developing young talent in Milwaukee was instrumental in the Brewers' steady improvement over the past several seasons."

Doug Melvin, Zduriencik's old boss, believed much the same way. The Brewers' general manager spoke earlier this year about Zduriencik and credited him with much of the organization's success.

"When you come in as general manager, you talk about a lot of moves you can make," Melvin said. "But one of the best moves I made was retaining Jack as scouting director. We studied the drafts and felt he had done a good job with them and decided to let him continue. You need some stability in scouting."

The Mariners have that stability. Bob Fontaine is, like Zduriencik, one of the better talent evaluators in the game. National League sources said that as part of his deal, Zduriencik made sure the key players in the scouting and player development areas of the Mariners' front office would stay with the club at least through 2009 and in some cases through 2010.

Even if the Mariners' top brass decides to go with Zduriencik's plan to contend next year -- Lincoln and Armstrong both would prefer to put a competitive AL West team on the field in 2009 if possible -- it's clear the draft and the buildup of the minor league system will be a top priority.

"Jack is very important, but he's a low-profile guy," Melvin said earlier this season. "He's not a self-promoter. He doesn't get a lot of recognition because the day-to-day coverage is with the major league team. He's proud of the fact that the players he's drafted are having success here."

It's not just the Brewers, and now the Mariners, who recognize what Zduriencik has to offer. His drafts are almost legendary, so much so that Baseball America named him the 2007 major league executive of the year. He was the first nongeneral manager to win the award.

"When they told me I said, 'Are you serious?' " Zduriencik said at the time. "I had no idea. Who's ever worried about an award? I'm worried about the next player."

The Mariners are worried about the next season. After four years in which they averaged 93 wins from 2000 to 2003, they have had just one winning season since. The 101 losses in 2008 made last season one of the biggest flops of the decade.

With the addition of Bedard and fellow starter Carlos Silva, the team was supposed to compete for the American League West title. Instead, it competed for the first pick in the 2009 draft. Ultimately, the Mariners settled for the second pick.

Along the way, Bavasi was fired June 16, replaced on an interim basis by Pelekoudas, who probably will remain in the organization. And manager John McLaren was fired June 19, replaced by Jim Riggleman, whose status is up in the air.

Riggleman would like to return, but there's no telling what Zduriencik's inclination will be with his first hire.

Zduriencik spent two years as a minor leaguer in the Chicago White Sox organization. He coached college and high school baseball and football in the 1970s before joining the Mets as a scout in 1983.

He made the jump into the front office as director of scouting for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1991, became the Mets' minor league operations director in 1995, and by 1998 was special assistant to the general manager. He left at the end of that year to join the Los Angeles Dodgers as the director of international operations before moving to the Brewers after the 1999 season.